The newsletter of
HOTEP
Issue 15: January 2017
Happy new year!
Review of our December meeting
On Saturday 10 December we held our
Christmas meeting which started with Glenn
Worthington’s talk ‘Theban Holidays’ in
which he described the two great festivals of
Thebes – the Beautiful Festival of the Valley
and the Feast of Opet. He traced their
development from their origins, thought to be
in the reign of Hatshepsut, to the elaborate
celebrations of the late New Kingdom. Glenn’s
presentation included striking images from the
works of the Chicago House epigraphers who
record the reliefs and inscriptions in the
Theban temples and he reminded us that
these are available to download from the
Internet.
You
can
find
them
at
https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/epig
raphic-survey
The ancient festivities, celebrated over many
days, involved processions of the sacred
barques of the Theban deities Amen, Mut and
Khonsu, accompanied by military parades,
music and dancing and vast quantities of food
and drink. However, apart from their popular
appeal, these festivals served a serious
religious purpose. The Festival of the Valley
was especially significant for the workmen of
Deir el-Medina as the sacred statues were
progressed around the temples and tombs of
western Thebes. The Feast of Opet promoted
the continuation of royal authority by
associating the King with the regenerative
powers of Amen-Ra and had such significance
for the people of Thebes that it is still
commemorated today, albeit in another form.
Just as Christian festivals were superimposed
on their pagan precursors, so the Muslim saint
Abu el-Haggag, whose mosque occupies a
The
Southampton
Ancient Egypt
Society
substantial corner of the Luxor Temple, is
celebrated with a carnival parade of boats on
wheels.
Glenn’s talk was followed by a social
gathering including fun and games with an
Egyptian theme. Though several people
entered into the festive spirit by trying out a
game of Hounds & Jackals, a sort of cross
between Ludo and Snakes & Ladders we were
still not able to award the SAES Hounds &
Jackals trophy. Perhaps next year! Other
activities included spotting similarities and
differences, unravelling anagrams to identify
the odd one out amongst British Egyptologists
and a puzzle wall á la Only Connect. If you
were not there perhaps you would like to
have a go at spotting the 12 differences
between the images below, (answers at the
end of this newsletter). A good time was had
by all!
December Quiz Answers:
The festive Santas were:
(A) Lucia Gahlin (B) Irving Finkel
(C) Aidan Dodson (D) Charlotte Booth
From Avril Poppitt
Illuminating news from the astrochronology section of the University of
Oxford. This developing branch of astroscience is involved in recording the timing of
solar flaring caused by eruptions on the
surface of our sun. When these rare storms
occur on the side of the sun facing the earth,
they leave a mark on every tree growing at
the same time, everywhere on earth.
Hmm, Interesting. ’So what?‘ I hear
you say. Here’s what :
By combining the dating of the solar flares
from the tree ring samples, radio-carbon
dating of same, and known historical facts, we
can pinpoint calendar years extremely
accurately. (There is a slight problem with
RCD tending to be accurate only within 50100 years)
The real use of this dating technique
is in checking the dates of the gaps which
occur in the “floating chronologies“ of
civilisations that appear to be otherwise well
documented, such as the sequence and
lengths of reign of Egyptian Kings in the Old
Kingdom, which of course would be of
enormous help and interest to us “Ancient
Egyptioneers”, and also to those interested in
the Mayan civilisations and Chinese History.
We await further developments.
Condensed
from
‘World
Archaeology Magazine’ December 2016.
Hilary found several related articles
from August 2016. This is an extract from
The Guardian:
Archaeologists believe they have
identified a new way of putting accurate dates
to great events of prehistory. Rare and
spectacular storms on the sun appear to have
left their mark in forests and fields around the
planet over the past 5,000 years.
Michael Dee, of Oxford University’s
research laboratory for archaeology and the
history of art, thinks evidence of such solar
storms could help put precise years to some
of the great uncertainties of history: the
construction of Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza,
the collapse of the ancient Mayan civilisation
in Central America, and perhaps even the
arrival of the Vikings in the Americas.
Every tree maintains its own almanac
in the form of annual growth rings. For
decades dendrochronologists have been using
tree-ring evidence and radiocarbon dating to
build a timetable of events that confirm
historical accounts, even those predating the
If the researchers do identify another spike,
they expect it to be duplicated in surviving
plant tissue everywhere in the world from that
year: in the reeds that became papyrus, in
the flax that was preserved as linen, in the
timbers that shore up ancient graves. Spikes
in tree rings from 775AD have been found in
Germany, Russia, the US and New Zealand.
The astrochronologists have a potential record
far more accurate than a human scribe.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/a
ug/17/traces-of-sun-storms-locked-in-treerings-could-confirm-ancient-historical-datesastrochronology
The following is from the Oxford University
news website:
'Clocks' in treerings that could
reset chronologies
across the ancient
world
Oxford
University
researchers say that
trees which grew
during
intense
radiation bursts in
the past have 'timemarkers' in their
tree-rings that could help archaeologists date
events from thousands of years ago. In a new
paper, the authors explain how harvesting
such data could revolutionise the study of
ancient civilisations such as the Egyptian and
Mayan worlds.
The paper, ‘Anchoring historical
sequences using a new source of astrochronological tie-points’, is published in the
journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society A.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-08-17clocks-tree-rings-could-reset-chronologiesacross-ancient-world
Upcoming Events
We are pleased to announce that the Study
Day 15 July 2017 will be:
An Introduction to Egyptian Astronomy
presented by Dr Bernadette Brady from the
University of Wales Trinity Saint David
School
of
Archaeology,
History
and
Anthropology.
‘The material evidence of Egypt leaves
us with many tantalising clues concerning the
astronomy of the Egyptians and its role in
Egyptian culture. The Pyramid Text of the Old
Kingdom
reveals
an
astronomy which blended
naked-eye observations
of the heavens with
religious
beliefs
and
aspirations
of
the
individuals and links the
stars to the ascent of the
soul. Evidence of the
Coffin Text and diagonal
star calendars reveals
that
this
cultural
astronomy and theology moved into the
Middle Kingdom. By the New Kingdom the
shifting Egyptian approach to astronomy
shows innovations through the Ramesside
star clocks and great astronomical ceilings of
that period. By the Hellenistic period,
however, the Dendera Zodiac reveals an
Egyptian sky mixed with and finally consumed
by the Hellenistic view of the heavens.
This Study Day is designed to
introduce you to the Egyptian sky with its
mythic, religious, and civic role in Egyptian
society. It will begin with the pyramids of the
Old Kingdom and carry through to the
Hellenistic period.
By the end of the day you should be
able to look at a piece of Egyptian
astronomical art or design and recognise its
probable intentions and major themes.
Handouts will be provided to aid your own
study after the event.’
Fee for the day: £20 for SAES Members
£25 for non-Members
Book your place now.
Next Meeting: Saturday 18 February
Dr Paul Collins, Curator of the
Ancient Near East at the Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford, will be talking to us about
Egypt and the Assyrian Empire. The
relations between Egypt and the kingdom of
Assyria can be traced in some detail between
c.1300 - 600 BC. The splendour of Egypt’s
New Kingdom helped shape Assyria’s identity
as its armies expanded across the Near East,
ultimately invading Egypt to confront the
rulers of the picture of interaction between
these two great powers.
Christmas ‘Spot the Difference’ solution
Now it’s Quiz Time
1) What is the name of the goddess
represented above?
2) What is the name of her husband?
3) What were the names of their four
children?
Answers in the next issue of Hotep.